Two men accused of raping a pair of Richmond prostitutes at gunpoint last weekend now face numerous felony charges, and police say one of them also may factor into previous, unsolved cases.

Patrol officers arrested 24-year-old Manuel Caldera and 20-year-old Jose Ceja on Sunday morning after two women at the Seahorse Motel at 909 Cutting Blvd. told a manager they were imprisoned for several hours and repeatedly raped by two men.

The women, 26 and 21, told detectives they were both prostitutes and that the men picked them up on 23rd Street on Saturday night. They accepted money in exchange for sex, and the men took them to a room at the Seahorse.

Afterward, the men requested more time with the women, who in turn asked for more money. The suspects drove the women to an ATM on Macdonald Avenue near San Pablo Avenue, but Caldera lacked sufficient funds to withdraw additional cash, Detective Yesenia Rogers said.

So the men drove to a house on Eighth Street, where Caldera said he had money. He briefly went inside. When he climbed back into the rear of the car, police say, he produced a sawed-off shotgun and informed the women that he did not, in fact, have any more cash.

Police say they returned to the Seahorse and, from about 11:30 p.m. Saturday to about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, raped both women repeatedly. The gun sat on a nightstand throughout. One of Caldera’s family members arrived and drove the men away afterward.

Because the men drove the women to the Eighth Street house, officers had little trouble finding and identifying the suspects, Rogers said.

Rogers had brought charges against Caldera on Feb. 28 in connection with the rape of a 16-year-old girl in June, but the Contra Costa district attorney’s office sent the case back to police for further investigation. Police had identified Caldera as a suspect last year but could not find him for months, Rogers said.

Pinole and El Cerrito police also are investigating Caldera in connection with other recent cases, detectives at those agencies confirmed, and a cold-hit DNA match recently identified him in connection with an unsolved prostitute rape in 2003, Rogers said.

Both Caldera and Ceja remained in County Jail in Martinez on Friday, charged by prosecutors in connection with last weekend’s case. The district attorney’s office also filed rape charges in connection with the June case.

Three women have told the New York Times that music mogul Russell Simmons raped them, the latest in a cascade of serious allegations of sexual misconduct against powerful men in entertainment, media, politics and elsewhere.